For as long as I can remember, the church, for me, has been a place
characterized by shame and hurt. I remember Christian high school
friends telling me that I would go to hell for being Queer. I remember
hearing sermons from televangelists about the evils of homosexuality,
and church leaders pressuring youth leaders to cast out their Queer
members. I've heard more talk of "love the sinner, hate the sin," and
"God didn't make gay," than anyone should, and I've even received
personalized hate mail declaring that "God hates dykes."

While
I've never believed being Queer automatically counted me out, I've been
unable to find a church community that I, as a Trans person, could
really call home -- a place I could engage in conversations around faith
and sexuality, faith and gender.

Last fall, a co-worker invited
me to meet with a group of leaders from her church who were working to
make their community more open and affirming. As the Director of LGBTQA
Advocacy and Education at the local college, I suppose I was a logical
choice, though this colleague knew nothing of my lifelong struggles with
faith.

Through talking with these people about their desires to
be inclusive and their belief in God's love extending to all people, I
found my mind re-opening to faith, to God. Because of these
conversations, I realized that it is possible for Queer people to feel
welcome and safe at church. Ultimately, it begins with education and
relationships.

Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders will
announce his plans to seek the Democratic nomination for president on
Thursday, presenting a liberal challenge to Hillary Rodham Clinton.
Sanders, an independent who describes himself as a "democratic
socialist," will follow a formal statement with a major campaign kickoff
in his home state in several weeks. Two people familiar with his
announcement spoke to The Associated Press under condition of anonymity
to describe internal planning. Sanders will become the second major
Democrat in the race, joining Clinton. He has urged the former secretary
of state to speak out strongly about issues related to income
inequality and climate change. The former first lady and New York
senator is viewed as a heavy favorite in the Democratic primary and
formally entered the race earlier this month.

Eleven years
after Massachusetts became the first state to allow same-sex couples to
marry, the Supreme Court on April 28 will hear arguments about whether
to extend that right nationwide. The case comes amid a wave of gay
marriage legalization: 28 states since 2013, and 36 overall. Such
widespread acceptance in a short amount of time isn't a phenomenon
unique to gay marriage. Social change in the U.S. appears to follow a
pattern: A few pioneer states get out front before the others, and then a
key event—often a court decision or a grassroots campaign reaching
maturity—triggers a rush of state activity that ultimately leads to a
change in federal law.

We looked at six big issues—interracial
marriage, prohibition, women’s suffrage, abortion, same-sex marriage,
and recreational marijuana — to show how this has happened in the past,
and may again in the very near future.

"When we try to compensate
for our neediness by making money, eating or buying things, we are
mainly hurting ourselves. But when we try to compensate for this
neediness by dominating others, things get complicated. In order to
dominate others, we need to make them feel inferior. This is a perverse
game. We make the other feel powerless in order for us to feel powerful;
we lay the blame on the other to not feel guilty ourselves. This is
true evil. "

If we are to close the gap between
ideal and actuality—between the envisaged aim of striving and the lived
experience of our everyday lives—it is necessary for us to pay greater
heed to the task of repetition. Every wholesome thought, every pure
intention, every effort to train the mind represents a potential for
growth along the Noble Eightfold Path.